Bossy flies and Brave comes of age at CSJ – June 2024
One of the highlights of the domestic agility calendar is the CSJ Open. It is in the style of the World Agility Open with international judges, WAO style courses and the first opportunity to book a spot in your national team to appear at WAO next year.
The event consists of 5 competitions over 4 days – Pentathlon, Biathlon, Games, the CSJ National and Steeplechase. This was the first appearance at the event for both Brave and Bossy (our thanks again to the brilliant Kate Prosser for loaning Will her precious girl). Both dogs were there just for the experience – their competition consisted of dozens of Grade 7 dogs, plenty of whom had considerable championship and international experience. Brave at Grade 3 and Bossy at Grade 4 were there to find out if they could cope with this style of course and challenge.
Event 1 – Games Challenge
The Games Challenge consists of a Snooker round followed by a Gamblers final for those that qualify. Brave was first up:
A solid 30 points was not spectacular but was more than enough to see Brave into the final! Bossy only managed 7 points but this was enough for her to squeak into the Gamblers final too.
The Gamblers final saw both dogs perform really confidently in the indoor arena. Both just missed out on the bonus point gambles at the end but lots of promise:
The overall Games Position is decided by combining the points scored in Snooker and Gamblers. This left Bossy 17th and Brave 14th. Another super effort!
The Steeplechase challenge
No contacts, no weaves, just jumps, tunnels and speed! Bossy and Brave both love the chance to go at top speed unchecked. Will guided them both to clear rounds that put both the youngsters into the steeplechase final. A couple of ‘wow’ rounds – Bossy finished in a fantastic 2nd place in the qualifier:
The Steeplechase final was indoors and the first final of the week. This was a bit too much excitement for Bossy and she was eliminated early on in her run. Brave had other ideas:
This lovely run was clear and fast and good enough for a fourth place finish – what a fantastic result for our 2 year old superstar!
The Biathlon
A very straightforward competition. One jumping round, followed by one agility round where the faults and timings are combined and the winners decided. It is the only competition at CSJ that does not have a final run in the main arena.
In dreadful weather, both Bossy and Brave suffered eliminations in the jumping round (along with most of their competition) so it was down to the agility round to make amends!
Brave was first. He battled so hard on an enormous course to finish with 10 faults:
Bossy ran a stunning round with some narrow escapes all the way up to the jump two from home. A potentially winning run ended with an elimination as Will moved a fraction too early and Bossy took the wrong side. But, worth a look to see the potential this pairing clearly have with a little more time together to prepare:
This meant that Bossy finished well down the field but Brave finished in 14th place overall in some very distinguished company!
Pentathlon
As you would expect, this event consists of 5 runs maximum. The first stage is an agility run and a jumping round. Then a cut is made so only the top 80% go through. Then a second jumping and second agility run form stage 2. Only the top 20 after all the results are combined make it to the final – a ‘Speedstakes’ run. This was a tough task for Bossy and Brave – to be consistent enough to get through each stage in such elite company on such challenging courses.
Will & Brave started with 15 faults in Agility round 1:
After an unlucky elimination for Bossy, both dogs headed into Jumping Round 1. Both combined with Will brilliantly to book their places in Stage 2. Bossy with a super speedy round with 5 faults, Brave with a lovely quick clear:
Both dogs started the next stage of the Pentathlon with their second agility run. Bossy was too quick up a speedy starting straight and took the wrong side of a jump to be eliminated. Brave worked hard on another enormous course but ended up with an elimination in the second half of the course. So…the chance to qualify for the final would come down to their fourth run – a jumping round.
Will and Bossy again went very quickly but a tricky middle section caught them out and Bossy was eliminated, meaning an anxious wait to see if they would reach the final.
Will and Brave took on a tough course and difficult weather conditions to put in a beautiful clear round!
This guaranteed a place in the final stage – the Speedstakes. Good news followed as, such was the difficulty of the course, very few dogs got around meaning Will and Bossy also made the final!
The final proved a step to far on this occasion for Bossy and a very tired but excited spaniel went on her own route several times and picked up an elimination. Will and Brave were also eliminated but this was due to one mistake in the middle of the course:
Will was still delighted with Brave’s run and the consistency and promise that he showed throughout a grueling event was rewarded with a brilliant 8th place finish.
The CSJ Nationals Challenge
This event runs very much like a championship event. Each pairing runs an agility round and a jumping round with the top 20 after results are combined reaching the final. However, if either run results in an elimination, then a final place cannot be reached.
First up was Brave who, despite the appalling conditions, had a lovely jumping round with just one mistake at the end of the weaves:
Then it was Bossy’s turn and she flew around! Just one pole prevented a perfect start:
This put both the youngsters in a great position going into the agility round.
Bossy took an extra dog walk early on and was eliminated.
Brave loved the indoor arena in front of a larger crowd and put in the team’s favourite round of the week. A beautifully controlled clear round with Brave barking at Will on the way – the little spaniel looked very happy and at home on a huge course! This super run gave our pair an incredible 3rd place in the class:
This meant that Will and Bossy were not going to get through to the CSJ Nationals final but little Brave, a Grade 3 youngster had made another elite final!
The final was another agility round on the last day. Will and Brave were showing some signs of tiredness but were determined to get around the final course. This was the pairs final run of an exhausting week:
Despite course faults and time faults, the run was still good enough for 7th place. What an effort!
So CSJ was over after a mammoth effort by Will and his young spaniels. Bossy performed with great speed and, although the placings were not what the pair hoped for, there were a few sparkling runs and, as Will and Bossy get more time over the summer to work together, the signs are promising for a stunning partnership.
The RAW Agility team’s youngest member, Brave, astonished Will and spectators alike with his consistency and ability to handle long and challenging courses against absolutely top class opposition. The little fella ran 15 times over the four days with every course at World Championship standard and well over 200 metres each. He is under 2 and a half years old, still at Grade 3 competing against a great number of Grade 7 dogs with great experience, many of whom have competed at international level.
Despite all that, he completed 11 of the courses, reached every single final and had the following finishing places:
Steeplechase: 4th
CSJ Nationals: 7th
Pentathlon: 8th
Biathlon: 14th
Games: 14th
This was definitely the weekend that Brave came of age. We are all very hopeful that this is a big step at the beginning of a fantastic agility career. Our little star was a bit tired by the end!
Well done to Will who is gradually getting back to fitness after glandular fever. He ran 28 huge courses over 4 full days of competition, so he can be forgiven for looking a little tired in the CSJ Nationals final!
Many thanks to everyone involved in the staging, managing and running of this brilliant event. It is definitely a highlight on the RAW Agility calendar. For more pictures, results and an overview of this year’s event: https://theagilityopen.com/
willbacchus.com 